


Game Night

by Bitterblue



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: F/F, consider it some kind of college au, i guess, it's the d&d au no one asked for or wanted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-01 09:50:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18797941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bitterblue/pseuds/Bitterblue
Summary: It’s mostly dudes, which does not surprise her, but a few non-dudes as well, which is definitely a pleasant improvement over what she’d pictured when she saw the flyer on campus.Game Night at University Games, south side of campus 5pm Friday night. D&D, Pathfinder, and Warhammer, all accepting new players.She’s missed having an in person game. Online is fine, and she’s glad she can keep playing in her original campaign even if it means half an hour of technical troubleshooting to make everything work at the start of each session, but in person is just...more.





	Game Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thosefarplaces](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thosefarplaces/gifts).



It’s a really embarassing thing to be doing, but embarassment has never really stopped her before.

The inside of the shop is bigger than she expected from the window displays, one a scene reenactment from the latest Marvel movie using only funko pops (still in their boxes, natch, waiting to be eagerly scooped up), the other featuring three posters of anime protagonists she only vaguely recognizes, the door giving a little  _jingle_  as she steps into the relative darkness from the bright, late afternoon Minnesota sunshine. It’s no Games of Berkeley, but it’s big enough to have labelled sections hanging from the ceiling and tables at the back. There are a dozen or so people milling around them, plus a few more in the shop proper.

From behind the counter, a young guy smiles and offers, “If you need anything, just let me know. If you’re here for Game Night, it’s in the back.” She smiles a little more, gives him two thumbs up, and walks toward the small crowd.

It’s mostly dudes, which does not surprise her, but a few non-dudes as well, which is definitely a pleasant improvement over what she’d pictured when she saw the flyer on campus.  _Game Night at University Games, south side of campus 5pm Friday night. D &D, Pathfinder, and Warhammer, all accepting new players_. She’s missed having an in person game. Online is fine, and she’s glad she can keep playing in her original campaign even if it means half an hour of technical troubleshooting to make everything work at the start of each session, but in person is just...more.

One of the younger guys milling about breaks off from the group and waves at her with an awkward smile that endears him to her immediately. “Hey!” he offers his hand, like this is some kind of business meeting, “I’m Scott. You’re new?”

She takes his hand even though it’s weird - maybe it’s a midwestern thing? - and gives it a firm shake. His palm is kind of sweaty. She is slightly less endeared. “Cosima. Yeah, I just moved here for school and I miss playing in person.”

It turns out Scott is also just starting a PhD at U Minn in molecular bio, though he’d done the master’s portion there as well. He’s been playing here for a while, mostly Pathfinder and D&D, but he’s here specifically tonight for D&D. The shop’s last campaign had ended a couple of months back and they’ve finally got a new person to DM, so it’ll be a whole new campaign. Cosima hears and processes about half of this, as partway into Scott explaining his plans for his diss, a beautiful woman walks into the shop, and, well. She only has eyes.

The woman is tall, with blonde ringlets that cannot be real, carrying a leather backpack that looks  _full_  and heavy. She stops briefly at the counter to smile and chat with the boy working, then turns and starts to make her way back toward the tables. Cosima decides she’s playing whatever this woman is playing and hopes it’s not Warhammer because her stipend isn’t big enough for that. She seems to notice Cosima watching her, because their eyes meet and the woman smiles warmly, ears going a little pink.

“Hello? I’m here to begin the Dungeons and Dragons campaign - I’m the new DM, Delphine. Shall we get started?”  _Fuck_ , she’s French. Or it’s an accent choice? That seems like a weird move for a DM to make but, hey, it’s D&D. Either way, it’s a killer accent and Cosima is really, really screwed. Delphine moves to a table and starts pulling stuff out of the backpack - scrolls sealed with wax, little electric fake candles, a 3-d printed skull. Cosima has never moved so fast, to ensure her seat at that table. In the end, she gets a spot, and so do Scott and three others - a young man Cosima could only describe as a  _high fashion queer_ , his sour-looking sister who’s dressed more for a bar fight than game night, and a girl who looks like she’s auditioning to be a suburban housewife, cardigan over a peter pan collar and all.

Delphine has them start working on character sheets right away, source books on hand. It’s clear the brother-sister pair had characters already in mind, so the rest of them try not to overlap too much. Felix, the brother, has a college of lore bard while Sarah, the sister, has a thief rogue, with the two of them having some convoluted backstory they’ve already concocted and written out. While Delphine reads it over, her eyebrows slowly ascending into her hairline, Cosima flips through her copy of the players handbook for inspiration.

In her original game, she’s played a monk, so it’d be good to mix it up. Across the table, Scott offers that he’s going to be a sorcerer if no one else minds, striking one of the major casting classes off the potential list. Cosima eyes up the last player, Alison, as she fills out a character sheet in four colours of pen and then reaches into her bag to pull out a tupperware container of washi tape and those scissors that cut patterned edges.

“What?” Her voice is crisp. She’s going to make  _such_  a good disapproving mom one day, or maybe a teacher for wayward youth or something. Cosima eyes the pile of scissors.

“I’m just impressed by your dedication to the aesthetic.”

Alison sniffs, shrugging one shoulder. “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t commit to the aesthetic. It’s a game of the imagination.”

“Whoa, dude, I didn’t mean it as an insult. I’m, like,  _genuinely_  impressed.” She is, too, even if, glancing at the character sheet, she’s surprised to see  _cleric - light domain_  rather than some kind of barbarian.

Turning toward Delphine, Cosima raises her hands in surrender. “I’m at a loss - I’ve got no good concepts at all. I’ve been a monk before, but I want to do something new, y’know?” Delphine gives her a slow, appraising once-over, smiling slightly. Cosima is  _super_  really, really screwed.

“Sometimes the easiest thing to do is to play what you know, you know? Not the same class, but start with some part of yourself and work from there.”

“Actually...that’s a really good idea.” She flips to the wizard section, school of transmutation. What’s evolutionary development but, like,  _natural_  transmutation? One thing into another.

Glancing over at Delphine again, Cosima scribbles her best score into charisma. One thing into another. If she’s lucky. Given how Delphine smiles as she looks over Cosima’s sheet before handing it back to her, she just might be.


End file.
